6 d democrat! can save - connolly association · 6 d democrat! » no. 169 january 1959 a •s 0...
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DEMOCRAT! » No. 169 J A N U A R Y 1959 a •s 0
GAITSKELL IN BELFAST
Trying to bamboozle him ^ p H E announcement that Mr . Hugh Gaitskell was visiting
Belfast on New Year's Day led to much speculation in
anti-part i t ion circles.
Te leg rams have been sent to h im warn ing aga ins t the cer ta in ty of a t t e m p t s to bamboozle h im on the main issues of the Ir ish scene.
He i.s reported to be confe r r ing with t h e so-called Nor the rn Ire-land Labour Par ty whose shamefu l acceptance of par t i t ion h a s so much damaged the Labour cause in I re land .
M O R R I S O N ' S R O A D
According to the "I r i sh Times" there were to be efforts made to push Gaitskell a f u r t h e r s tep down the road t rodden by Mr. Morrison. Up to now Labour has followed A n e u n n Bevan's policy of "not s e t t i n g mixed up in" Ir ish affairs .
Now those who have been pur-veying the idea of "recognising" the six-county Government and pin t ing ant i-part i t ion in cold s torage for a genera;l .m have half gnawed through the Labour leaders" resoiuli-
TO MACMILLAN As a result of the work of T o m
Leonard, E.C. member of the Con-nolly Association, Kingston Divi-sional Labour Par ty sent a com-plete statement of the Mal lon and Ta lbot case to M r . Morgan Phil l ips, Secretary-General of the Labour Party. News has just come th rough that the whole matter is now to be discussed by the Parlia-m e n t a r y Labour Par ty .
THIS PLAN CAN SAVE
IRELAND A prosperous Ireland possible:
Unity and Independence essential y y NEW plan of campaign is underfoot to end the apathy that has grown up
among the Irish immigrants in Britain, and get them united and doing something for Ireland.
This plan will be discussed at a conference in the Holborn Hall, London, on February 22nd, at least in its first stages.
BOOK NOW: ST. PATRICKS
NIGHT 17 M A R C H , 1959
P O R C H E S T E R H A L L
S I M P L E
C e n t r a l concept ion on which the p l an is based is contained in these s imple proposi t ions :
IIIHI ill
iium III HI
j p i l " i until
HI j p i l
l l l l l l l l | | | U | | |
c , l i i i i i i l!
iiiiiiii mum «ll»
l l i i i i l l III!
Nor the rn Ireland Gai tskcl l to commit himself in favour of parti t ion even it t ins means completely losing t h e Irish vote in Britain.
O R A N Q f - L A B O U R
T h e orange labourites in the Nor th have been thoroughly a la rmed a t the response within the Br i t i sh Labour movement to the disclosures made dur ing the Mallon and Talbot trial. They are ins i s t ing tha t official Labour makes a s tand before it is too late. They believe tha t "Bar r ing ton i sm" has disorganised the nat ional is t f ron t , but tha t this d isorganisat ion canno t be counted on to last. Hence the effort to "bounce" Mr. Gai t ske l l who is being told t h a t he h a s only to declare for par-t i t ion fo r ever and the West-mins te r House of Commons will be bubbling with the an t ics of six-county "Labour" M.P.s
Hill l l l l l l l l
W E E K after the Ulster office had sent their super-
charged unionist pepman to tell Coventry Rotary Club that the only way to get the
Labour" wants | unity of Ireland was that 'Eire' should come back into the United Kingdom, Mr . Desmond Greaves, Editor of the "Irish Democrat," answered him at the December meeting of the Coventry Trades Council.
Tin IllUIlHll
. . . . . . . land, a country of big monopolies " I which had effectively squeezed the
' small m a n out of business, was seen in I reland as a national ensmy t ry ing to carry on the same
Present as a visitor was Mr. process abroad. Obviously the Patr ick Powell, Secretary of the Ir ish people must have a Govern-Coventry Anti par t i t ion League, m e n t of their own able to pass laws and youth organiser of the to protect their citizens from dis-Coventry Labour Par ty . possession by monopolies whose Af te r a brief presentat ion of the headquarters were outside Ireland,
background of part i t ion, the Editor There fore what scemeti purely answered the qusstions of dele- economic in Br i ta in was intensely gates.
P A R T I T I O N T h e r e was general assent when it
was explained that I re land's prob-lems were basically economic. Eng-
Teora inn agus sa t ir seo.
Buachaill i oga is ea a bh fu rm-hor agus gan ach cuspoir a m h a i n aca. an ceangal idir Eire agus S a s a n a a bhr i seadh agus poblacht
YORKSHIRE M.P.s VISITED •y j EMBERS of Huddersfield Anti-
par t i t ion League are now near ing completion of their task of interviewing all Yorkshire M.P.s to acqua in t them with the facts of par t i t ion .
Leading figure in tills campaign is Mr. Patrick Daly, the six-foot automobi le engineer who recently went to Dublin to protest a t the fa i lure of nationalist newspapers to give adequate suppor t to ant i -par t i t ion activities m Bri ta in . He
SMAOINYE NOLLAG r p R A I D I S I U N is ea e timpeall a m G h a e l a c h a chur i reim. Tl iugadar J - Nollag s m a o i n e a m h a cliait- len n g u n n a aris m a r fua i r eada r
h e a m h ar na dao ine na fuil n a r tu i r seach de bhei th ag f e i theamh d t e a n n t a a thuil le , go ha i r i the leis an dream poili t iochta. Ua tha nua i r a ta imid ag tabhai r t fen san nil ach caint, a g u s baoth-dinear La Nollag. Rud amhain ba cha in t an chuid is mo di. le beag-chea r t duinne. E i reanna igh , cuimh- nach dachad bliain anuas . Nilimid nean ih air is ea n a pnosuna igh a t a orlach nios ghairde do re i teach na i gcarcair ar an da thaoibh den T e o r a n n tareis am a m a san go leir.
Nil ach f reagra a m h a i n ag De Valera agus ag T o r a i t h e an Tuais-cirt dos na buachailli a t a i ndair i re i d taobh saoirse na tire, agus se sin an priosun, an sean th reag re . I ngach gluin leis na cead ta bliain a n u a s bhi triodairi a r son saoirse na hEi reann i bpriosuin Shasana agus nil an ceacht f o l u m t h a fos ag lucht n a h impireachta .
Einne a leigheann Borstal Boy le Breandan O Beachain tuigfidh se an sort fail le a bhionn roimis Pol-bach tana igh ins na priosuin. Ba chea r t duin r u i m h n e a m h mar sin ar na daoine a ta ag f u l a n g ar ar son. Agus ni E i reanna igh amhain atn i bpriosuin na h impireachta . Cad mar gheall a r m h u i n t i r Cyp-rus agus Kenya agus Malaya? Ta an troid ar siul i ngach aird. Agus c inte beidh an buaidli fos ag trio-dair i na saoirse.
arid his colleagues lobbied the last Labour Par ty conference a t Scar-borough.
Among those who have received the Huddersfield d e p u t a t i o n s favourably a re Messrs. Mallalieu and Wade, and Councillor Mars-den. a prospective Labour can-didate .
T h e Huddersneld ant i -par t i t jon-Ists have secured the distribution of Ir ish l i tera ture in G h a n a and Kenya where it ha s been taken by s tuden t s at Yorksh i re colleges.
polit ical, and N A T I O N A L , in Ire-land.
E C O N O M I C I r ish nat ional ism was not a
vague airy idea, it was a political response to an economic neces-sity. T h e Brit ish Imperial ists well
understood the relat ion between politics and economics, and had part i t ioned I re land in order to make it easier to exploit it. T h a t is why part i t ion must go, and Ire-land b e c o m e an independent nat ion. Those who talked about ending part i t ion apar t f rom the in-dependence of I re land did not know what par t i t ion was for, nor what the ending of par t i t ion was needed for.
FOREST OF DEAN MINERS ASK
ABOUT TORTURE TRIAL
I YDNEY (Gloucestershire) local papers have been buzzing with
controversy since the Forest of Dean coal miners passed resolu-t ions demanding an enquiry into al legat ions of t o r t u r e in the Mal-lon and Talbot case.
Resul t has been an order for a dozen copies of t h e pamphle t "Tor-ture Tr ia l " which Connolly Asso-ciat ion observer Mr. John Hostett-ler wrote when he got back to Lon-don. T h e local T r a d e s Council is also reported to be interested.
HOSTETTLER / i f A C P A W will speak in W • •
on the BELFAST TORTURE TRIAL Carlton Place A.E.U. Rooms, Glasgow, C5
SUNDAY, 11 JAN., 7 p.m. Also DESMOND GREAVES
C O N N O L L Y ASSOCN. G L A S G O W B R A N C H
1 T h a t Bri t ish imper ia l ism CAUSES unemployment and emigrat ion by means of par-t i t ion and economic strangu-lat ion of I re land.
2 T h a t since B r i t a i n does this, she can be stopped doing it if enough people in Br i ta in say so.
3 T h a t Irish people in Bri ta in can and should unite to re-open the I r ish question In Brit ish politics.
S N O W B A L L
It, is not a wild exaggerat ion to say tha t the implementa t ion of such a campaign by the Irish in Br i ta in could save Ire land f rom na t iona l extinction.
T h e campaign, which is a t the ini t iat ive of the Connolly Associa-tion, is based on t h e snowball prin-ciple.
F r o m modest beginnings it is ex-pected to ga ther as it rolls on until it assumes na t iona l dimensions.
Nobody who genuinely wants to do something for I r e l and will be or need be left out. Everyman 's own par t icu lar s t andpo in t will be ie-spected.
F i r s t proposals will be to tackle the question of t h e Const i tut ional position of Nor th-Eas t Ireland. A campaign to expose the scandalous a n d appalling ant i -democra t ic cha rac te r of th i s puppet police s t a t e will be begun among the T r a d e s Unions a n d Labour Move-m e n t in Bri tain.
P R E S S U R E Then , a f te r a represen ta t ive con-
fe rence has discussed the charac-ter of the six-county s ta te unt i l i ts n a t u r e is c lear to everybody, s t eps will be t a k e n to bring pressure to bear on Members of Par l i ament .
I t is hoped to pressure M.P.s in to breaking t h r o u g h t h e Tory-im-posed ban on discussing North-eas t Ireland in t h e Brit ish House of Commons which created it.
T h e n it is hoped to tell t he Nor thern I re land Government to "be democratic or get out " T h e mos t democratic t h i n g they could do would be to get out.
I t is proposed to run a cam-paign to roll back the powers of this Government , and prepare for t he time when Bri t ish troops will be withdrawn f rom Ireland, and t h e Irish people allowed to decide the i r destiny in a democratic fashion.
(Continued on Page Eight, Column One)
2 T H E IRISH D E M O C R A T January 1959
WORK AND WAGES D O I N T was added to the warnings of possible mass unemploy-* ment issued at the "Irish Democrat" Conference on " The Irish in Britain in the struggle for work and wages," in serious news-items from Lancashire.
T h e National Coal Board ' s decision to shut down pits will leave 1,000 m i n e r s out of work in Wiyan alone. M a n y of these a re I r i shmen. Resul t of t h e eoal s lumo is less work on the r a i l w a y s and docks w h e r e unemploy-m e n t is steadily g rowing .
Although the pr inciple blackspot is Liverpool, Manchester Ir ish a re also leel-ing the pinch.
This year Moss Side holidaymakers saw the unusual sight of well-dressed young Ir ishmen wa lk ing round Alexan-dra Park during the Christmas period. T h e y were men who had been laid off shortly before Christmas, and had de-cided not to risk spending the fare home.
C O N F E R E N C E At the London confe rence called to con-
sider this type of s i tua t ion , now increas-ingly affecting all Br i ta in , Mr. H. R. Ed-wards . son-in-law of J a m e s Connolly and London organiser of the N.U.V.B.. said t h a t unless the Torv Government was re-placed by a Labour government with a real Labour policy, t h e r e would be in-c reas ing unemployment and the possibi-lity of a t t empts at d iscr iminat ion aga ins t I r i sh workers in Br i ta in .
In his introductory r emarks the Editor expla ined how emigra t ion f rom Ire land was caused by Bri t ish imperial ism which, t h r o u g h part i t ion and restr ict ive economic s t rangleholds , had ru ined thousands ot I r ish small farmers , shopkeepers and a r t i s ans .
T h e al l- important t h i n g was tha t t he t r a d e union movement should become a w a r e of the Irish problem, and resolve t h a t there must be no more "badly-organised trades," as it was into these t h a t a newcomer could go without even being asked to join a union.
In the discussion t h a t ensued Mr. Danny Kilcommtns of Manches te r stressed the f ac t t h a t Ir ish workers tended to regard t h e s t rugg le for na t iona l independence a n d for wages and condit ions as in two water -t igh t compar tments . He challenged th is view, which he considered seriously mis-t aken . It was the reason why. though
there wa> a s t rong t rade union movement in each part ot I re land, there was only a very weak political Labour movement The I r i sh in Bri tain should take warning, and not, only join in the s t ruggle for better wages and conditions, but actively parti-cipate in politics.
D I S C U S S I O N Mr. Liam Gannon (Gloucester Labour
Pa r ty i , in one of the most t h o u g h t f u l con-tr ibutions to t h e conference, told ot how together with o the r young people in Dub-lin ten years ago, he s tar ted to publish a monthly paper . In the first issue U n -declared " I re land ' s principal export is youth." Little did he th ink t h a t so short a time would pass before he was on the boat himself.
He told of his work in approach ing Gloucestershire M.P.s over the case of Mallon and Talbot , and of how surpr ised some Labour men were tha t he should re-member he was an I r i shman .
"I have not t he sl ightest in tent ion of forget t ing it," said Mr. G a n n o n amid ap-plause, adding t h a t financiers in London were s t rangl ing I re land and tha t was the cause of the emigrat ion.
He did not wish to appear to be poach-ing members f rom any other par t ies but he appealed to those Irish who were not members of any political par ty to join the Labour Party. Many of the Ir ish were not voting, he concluded, and urged t h a t the Irish question be brought into the Labour movement, as t he Labour question should be brought to the Ir ish.
B L A C K L E G S H O T Mr. Tom Leonard (Kingston Labour
Par ty i, whose work in bringing t h e Irish question to the fo r e f ron t in both industr ial and political o rgan isa t ions is widely recog-nised as ou t s t and ing , spoke of the prob-lem of encouraging Ir ish immigran t s lrom rural areas to join t r ade unions in Bri ta in. He supported t h e suggestion tha t a t rade union recru i tment week should be under-taken by every t rades council and tha t special a t t en t ion should be given to the Irish.
Mr. O'SuIlivan, shop steward at Steven-age New Town, explained tha t t he unem-
D E F O R E a Manchester site was com-pletely levelled, no less than 1,000
men had put down their names for jobs. So while there M A Y be a job be-low, don't be travel l ing too far t i l l you feel certain. It's too expensive !
Lambeth. 89 dwell ings and 52 flats In-direct labour. Th ree blocks of llats at St. Mar t in s Estate by Sir Lindsay Park inson a n d Co.
Poplar. Block of dwellings at Devon es-t a t e by Carltons.
Lewisbam. Rebui lding ot Boots Pure D r u g Co.. Ijcwisham High Street, by Wm Moss and Sons Ltd.
Stepney. Norfolk e s t a t e development by T e r s o n s Ltd
Hammersmith. Ou t -pa t i en t s depar tment by Poster and Dicksee.
Bethnal Green. 25 f la ts al Collingwood e s t a t e by direct labour
Newington. New school by J. M. Hill and Son. Ltd.
Hendon. Two l l - s t o r e block, and one live-storey block a t New Brent si reel, by Geo. Wimpev and Co. Ltd
Abbey Wood. C o u n t y s e c o n d a r y s c h o o l by Walter Lawrence and Son
Crawley. Erection of .'>13 houses. 179 Hal and 102 garages a t Gossops Green b\ M J. Gleeson.
Bletchley. Prel iminary work •>rtorl oil £1.500.000 "fl>ovei by Leonard K:i::<-l,m ;h Ltd
Bristol. Work t•» Ileum shorll-. on head qua r t e r s for Philip1 Electrical L td . cen t re of city, bv Win, Clowhn and Son ():l s to rage terminal by A !•'. I 'an- Lid 170 dwellings lor T C bv J 1 aing and Son Lid
Walsall. 132 hou . e s on the Mo lev es-ta te . bv McAlpines
Bradford. 285 dwellings and 31 garages. Holmewood es ta te , by J. I .amgs.
Rotherham. 246 houses lor B.C. at Kim-berworth es ta te by Frank Haslam Lid.
Barnsley. 100 dwellings. Yews f a r m estate, by direct labour.
Birmingham. Dwellings at Beeches ltd Perry Bar Direct labour.
Birkenhead. 64 Mat- at Oxton Road area by George Wimpey.
Doncaster. 22 houses and works for R D C. at Hill Top. Edlmgton. bv R Dunk-erley and Son Ltd.
Hartlepool. 30 houses at Dock Street by Alter and Davison
Liverpool. 24 dwellings at Wolle SI reel by direct labour 85 dwellings at Tow bridge by Lloyd and Cross Ltd
Plymouth. 12 flats at Durnfo rd Street by Caikees and Son Ltd 28 old persons' houses al Pennveross by Hill Aj Lang
Chatham. 38 houses at Wred es ta te by W. E Cox Ltd
Gateshead. 112 houses at I.earn Lane estate bv A. V Clerev and Son Ltd
Barrow-in Furness. Rebuilding Abbey baths b\ direct labour.
East Sussex. Erection of pr imary school Hassocks, for county council by W Ellis Ltd
Folkestone. School lor C C by Jenner and Son Ltd.
Hove. 51 Mat- by Rice and Son I.Id Sittingliourn::. 20 houses and 8 old
people's dwellings In T R Sv ami and Son Ltd
Harwich. Extension lor maleini t ' . unit at Haiwich and District llospit il by llul Ion Builders Ltd.
Leamington Spa. 11-storrv block ol llals bv Unity S t ruc tu re s Ltd.
Glasgow. 20C house In I K Macken /ie and Par tner . . Ltd
plovment issir> had not . e' H'riot;>!v atUvted tins developing area But the need for t rade union o r g a m - a i : >:i was vwi: established. He told the s t o n ol a black-leg who was shot T h a t « j in Ireland, and the fa rmers >;tiu it m i , guud enough for him
At first it was hard ior the I r i shman from the country to se t t le down m a n in-dustr ial town. He had lound this himself. But the capacity lor organisa t ion which existed among the I r ish was i l lustrated by the common complaint f rom shopkeepers when there was a s t r ike t h a t it was "all these I r i shmen coming over causing dis-turbances ."
Mr. Chris Sullivan m a d e ihe point tha t it was essential to see the heart of t he t r ade union movement in the branches. He was a t present t rving to infuse a spirit of mil i tancy and activity into the largest A.U.B.T.W. branch in London. T h e branches should not be neglected the way they were, and all I r i shmen should make it a point to a t tend.
A controversy was s t a r t ed off by a vigorous .soeech by Mr. Fitzgerald, who who represented the Nor th London Dis-trict Commit tee of the A.E.U. He doubted il the re was any value in t reat ing t h e I r ish separate ly in view ot t he fac t tha t we were all workers. He was answered by Mr. Joe Deighan, president of t he Con-noil)- Association, who pointed out tha t the dist inction between Bri t ish and Ir ish was not made by us but by history and geography, and that if progressive-minded people shu t their eves to it. their enemies would not. It was impossible to ignore the results ot imperialism, lor imperial ism was with us. and the Bri t ish workers needed to fight it just as much as the Irish.
Mr. Denis McCarthy made the point tha t many Irish i m m i g r a n t s were u n a w a r e tha t they had the r igh t to vote in Britain, and appealed for t he widest possible dis-t r ibut ion of this in fo rmat ion .
Mr. Desmond Logan e m p h a s i s e d t h e identi ty ot the Apolitical s t ruggle aga ins t imperialist oppression inside Irela the efforts being made toi wages.
u i o L l u p , U g U l l l O I .
inside I re land and work and
NO H O O L I G A N I S M Mr. Heumann, editor of the "Operat ive
Builder" (official organ of the N.F.B.T.O.L said he had learned a lot lrom the plat-lorm, and concurred t h a t there was no cut a n d dried solution to th? problem which confronted the conference. There were, however, cer tain principles. The re must be no rai lal or o ther kind ol bar in the t rade union movement . We wanted
j no more hooliganism such as had dis-graced Nutting Hill and Not t ingham.
T h e principal difficulty lie experienced in relation to the organisat ion ol immigran t s was the migratory cha rac t e r el much ol the employment avai lable to them. T h e r e had been on reel hod ye: devised ol solving tha t problem adequately.
Mr. Lenihan. editor ol t h e "New Builders Leader ' , brought gree t ings to the confer-ence. and stressed the impor tance ol .supporting the Connolly Association and " l u s h 1 )eniocral".
A duplicated reoort .,t these, and t h e longer speeches, wi 1 shor t ly be dis tr ibuted to ail who a t tended
MANCHESTER NEXT VENUE
A N U M B E R of individuals and organisations indicating support
for the London conference of Irish immigrants on "The struggle tor work and wages" were prevented from attending solely on account of the time and expense involved in travell ing to London.
It has therefore been decided to hold a North-of-England conference in M A N C H E S T E R on March 15th.
Details will be shortly available in the press.
All ttose anxious to help with the work of organising the conference should communicate with Ihe Con-nolly Association M A N C H E S T E R O F F I C E , at 04-% Grosvenor Street, All Saints, Manchester t3.
Conference will be under the aus-pices of the " I r ish Democrat.
WHO IS IRELAND'S
ENEMY? r N U R I N G 1959 watch out for that re-
formed character John Bull. If ever a government suffered it is t h e misunderstood Brit ish government.
Haven' t they been saying tha t they havs no desire to keep t he i r troops in Ireland, but they can' t take t h e m out because the Cathol ics and P r o t e s t a n t s would s t a r t murder ing each o t h e r in the Six Counties They are there only to keep good Bri t ish law and order a m o n g t h e natives.
Although the m i s t r u s t f u l Irish would not believe them, it will be different in 1959. Now we don't have to tak& the word of the English ru lers only. There are now "respectable" I r i s h m e n to tell us the old. old storv.
B L A M E L E S S B R I T I S H T a k e the case of Mr. Ernest Blythe who
has t ime off very f requent ly f rom his dut ies at the Abbey T h e a t r e to tell us a th ing or two about polities. Among the surpr ises he s tages for us, he rings up the cur ta in to reveal tha t it is not now the Bri t ish G o v e r n m e n t ' s fau l t t h a t Ire-land is par t i t ioned. In Mr. Blythe.'s opinion one of t h e reasons tha t par t i t ion still lasts is because the Nationalis ts in the Six Counties won' t s tand to a t t en t ion at public func t ions when "God Save the Queen" is played.
Mr. Blythe gets some support for his idea of doing away with par t i t ion by agreeing with it. He has the backing, for example, of a Mr. Barr ington. who g radua ted not so long ago f rom Tr in i ty College, and he being " m a d with the edu-
by -
JOE DEIGHAN cat ion," as they say, has suddenly dis-covered tha t the I r i sh and not the Bri t ish a re responsible for t h e division of I re land
These political b ra ins would find it easier if, like some I r i shmen in the Labour movement , they p re tended tha t par t i t ion wasn ' t a serious issue a t all.
T H E A W K W A R D ONES Mr. De Valera says t h a t he has no solu-
tion for the problem. Lord Brookeborough sticks to the Unionis ts ' war-cry, "Not an inch." There is a s ta lemate unti l S inn Fein has a go and upsets the applecar t . Lord Brookeborough fills the Belfas t jail with uncharged a n d untried political opponents , and Mr. De Valera encloses his fellow i r i shmen beh ind barbed wire in the Cur ragh camp.
Meanwhile the Brit ish Government hypocritically washes its hands of all re-sponsibility for th is s t a t e of affairs. Thev th ink t h a t their p l an has succeeded. Did they plan it? Let us indulge for a moment in the bad old I r i sh habit of digging up past h.story,
P E R F I D I O U S A L B I O N Sir Winston Churchi l l , then a plain
mister, is speaking for Ins government iti the British House ol Commons. March 8th. 1922
"II yiiii s t r ip I re land ol the weapon she hits h i ther to used if you strip her of the accusation against Britain of being the oppressor, it you s f r i p h e r it her means of exci t ing and commanding the sympathy of almost the whole world
then. I say. t h e s t rength of your economic posit ion emerges m its integrity. ' In tha t s ta tement there s tand exposed
the real enemy of the Irish people British Toryism, which until now has suc-ceeded ill its cunn ing plan. The puppet, government m Nor the rn Ireland carr ies out the diii;. work by means ol the Special Powers Acts on behalf of I he British Gov-ernment and the s t r eng th of Bri tain 's economic position in Ireland holds back the development ol Ireland's resources, giving rise to unemployment and emigra-tion. Political and economic dominat ion of Ireland nor th and south ol the border by Britain t h a t is the never-fail ing source ol all our ills and the Irish must, break that, connect ion
When the Bri t ish Government disclaims responsibility lor t rouble in Ireland dur ing 195!) let all I n linieii in Britain remind Ihein ol the Oovernuient of I re land Act, of 1920 which i. still in l o n e and which says-
' Notwil ' . islanding the e table.hment of the Parl iament of Northern Ireland or any th ing conta ined m the Act. the sup reme author i ty of the Parl iament of the United Kingdom shall remain unaffected and undiminished over all persons mat-t e r . and th ings in Northern Ireland and ever\ pari thereof ."
January 1959 1 T H E IRISH D E M O C R A T 3
T H E I R I S H
3 7 4 G R A Y S INN R O A D LONDON, W.C.I
Subscription: 8 - per year
Editor: D E S M O N D GREAVES
SLUMP / " \ N other pages we give reasons why
Irish people l iving in Britain should take political action to bring about the w i thdrawal of British troops f rom their country and make possible its development as an economically viable whole.
This is not "airy stargazing." not t he "orat ion s tuff" when some fellow-republi-can is buried. I t is t he sound bread and bu t te r of Ir ish politics.
But without a b a t i n g one iota ol the de-m a n d lor s t ruggle agains t •imperialism, we now give another , an a d d i t i o n a l rea-son, for political action.
T h a t is the slump.
For the s lump is here good and proper.
Some ol t h e people who were busy heckling the Connolly Association in Hyde P a r k and calling t hem fancy names lor warn ing about t h e results of Tory policy, may now be feeling the consequences of the i r stupidity in the i r bellies.
They will con t inue to suffer in t hen-bellies till they learn to use their heads . Unfor tuna te ly o the rs with them.
For the s lump is affecting I r i shmen in m a n y trades. W e have reports of slacken-ing of building everywhere—there a re I r i shmen unemployed in Glasgow, Liver-pool, Manches ter , Not t ingham and Lon-don. The closure ot pits by the Coal Board is put t ing our boys out of work in Wigan and South Wales. The re is unemploy-men t 011 the docks of Liverpool, Manches-ter and London. T h e stocking trade, t h e bicycle t rade, t h e drug trade—all m a n n e r of t rades a re fee l ing the pinch, AS W E ALWAYS SAID T H E Y WOULD.
So who was r ight , the Connolly Asso-ciation, or t he Hyde Park ostriches, who stuck their heads in the sand and said t h a t Brit ish politics didn ' t affect the I r ish-man.
Brit ish politics has delivered t hem a kick in the posterior .
Now, like every disease, this s lump h a s a cause, and h a s a cure. But you've got to make su re you get the med*une or you won't be cured.
Here's t he cause. T h e TORY Govern-men t has set itself out to t ransfer spend-ing power f r o m the working man to t h e landlord and t h e boss. The landlord a n d boss can now spend like mad, but they 've all they want anyway. But the working m a n can ' t af ford what he could, so he isn ' t buying. T h e result is the factories go on shorter and shor te r time, men get p u t off, spending power diminishes still f u r -ther, and now t h e capitalists find then-greed has c a u g h t them in its own vice. It is no use investing their money, be-cause nobody wants what they would m a k e with it.
But, to m a k e ma t t e r s worse, they a re spending mill ions on arms, which a re NO GOOD. And because they are so deadly-jealous ot any progress abroad they won't lend the colonial countries any th ing to develop with, and won't even TRADE and do good business with Eastern countr ies because they don ' t like their governments .
Oi course they' l l be all right themselves for a dr ink a n d a smoke, so they can afford to play politics with working people's livelihoods.
Now w h a t about the cure? Simple as A BC. Kick the T o n e s out and have a new government . But make sure you tell it what you want done. More wages, to increase ; pending power. Lower ren ts Less spent on wasteful armaments . T r a d e with all count r ies who want to do business on equal te rms.
These a re th ings the Irish and Bri t ish workers equally need, and if is the com-monest of common sense to join together , organise and s t ruggle politically for then-a t t a inment .
X KuOW WtfiCh* WING Looks &&sf ^ ME — ~TH£ LH^T •
Year of Decision A N K I N D enters 1959 wi th a mul-
titude of new resources and powers over nature, sufficient to transform the face of the world and bring undreamed of prosperity for all.
Scientists m all the main countr ies have wrested the secrets of nuclear energy f rom na tu re to the point where it is now pos-sible to talk of removing drudgery and hard labour f rom normal daily life,- in mine, mill, factory, office and home.
Automation, with which one m a n operating the machine , can produce as much as scores, it no t hundreds of men using old processes, is everywhere demon-s t ra t ing man ' s mas tery of the tools of production.
In China, the most recent ol the world's great peoples to win full political a n d eco-nomic freedom, they have discovered and are practising new methods of cul t ivat ion which can yield m a n y times more food production t h a n h i ther to .
American and Russ ian sputn iks a re circling the ea r th ; aeroplanes capable of flying non-stop round the world, and sub-marines able to c h a r t the under-ice Poles and remain submerged for montlis on end are in operat ion; in ter -cont inenta l ballis-tic missiles capable of carrying hyrdogen bomb warheads can hi t targets 6.000 miles and more away.
It is now considered a cer ta inty tha t man will soon land on the . moon.
So iar as man himself is concerned, he is more scientifically and technically edu-cated than ever New millions of people h i ther to colonial s laves of imperia l ism India, China, Afr ica—are now free, willing and anxious to still f u r t h e r improve man ' s productive capacity.
To young men and women it Is incon-ceivable that , with all these fabulous re--.sources at their disposal, there should exist anywhere a person or people or nation suffering Ihe pangs of hunger or the fear of want.
T h e year 1959 holds out great hopes of peace and plenty. T h i s will not come by itself however. Only the vigilant activity of the people and the organisa t ions and governments in various countr ies can guarantee t ha t the plenty t h a t awai ts them is not dissipated m other channels .
1968: A W A R N I N G S I G N How have these great new prospects for
humani ty been exercised m the year just gone? Have the f ru i t s of m a n ' s genius
brought t h e securi ty and happiness ex-pected?
Unfor tunate ly no! Ireland, Nor th and South is in the grip
of a deadly unemployment crisis rapidly approaching t h a t of the 1930's.
In America it is variously es t imated t h a t there are l rom 3^ to 5} millions unem-ployed.
In Br i ta in the re a re f rom 500,000 to 1,000,000 out of work. And prospects a re none too br ight anywhere.
In every country scores of thousands of families a re homeless, searching for homes of their own.
Millions of young men In all countr ies are dragged f r o m f ru i t fu l indust r ia l pro-ductivity fo r two years to replenish t h e armed forces of their respective countries, as conscripts.
And the world's poli t icians a re discuss-ing Die problems of Berlin, banning of nuclear weapons, d isengagement , colonial oppression a n d colonial revolt with very-little sign of agreement .
Cyprus is still held in the deadly grip of martial law, curfews, communal punish-ment, killings, maiming, because the in-
hab i t an t s of t h a t d is t ressful island don ' t wan t to remain a n imperialist mi l i ta ry bastion. They want to be free.
A divided city of Berlin, 200 miles inside t h e terri tory of Eas t Germany, i s . now the trigger-point t h a t could blow the un-easy European peace wide open and s t a r t t h e dreaded war.
H O P E F U L S IGNS T h e warmongers and Colonel Blimps a r e
no t f inding th ings too easy. In Br i ta in , America, F rance a n d Germany great m a s s movements of men and women of al l shades of opinion a r e demanding a n e n d to nuclear warfare . They want to see man ' s resources used to end the t h r e a t of growing unemployment ra ther t h a n t o prepare for war.
In Africa a power fu l All-African People's Conference with representatives of afl t h e nat ive peoples of Africa as well as of the new nat ional governments has jus t con-cluded in Accra, capi tal of Ghana .
Among the decisiohs arrived a t was t h e unan imous car ry ing of a resolution:— < D To promote understanding and un i ty
among the peoples of Africa; 121 To accelerate the-liberation of Africa
f rom imperial ism and colonialism; (3) To mobilise world opinion against the
denial of political r ights and funda-mental h u m a n r ights to Afr icans;
14) To develop t h e feel ing of corampni ty among the peoples of Africa witb the object of the emergence of a United States of Africa.
Mr. Mboya, chairman of the conference, summed up the sentiments of the 200. mil-lion Africans represented by the short; s h a r p message to the imperialists—• Scram!
This conference is only one further example of the tremendous possibilities for t he common peoples the world over in 1959.
PAT DEVINE
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Address
s. d. Appea l .
4 T H E IRISH DEMOCRAT January 1959 5
THE SIXTIES ARE C A N THE IRISH
U N I T E ? T E L L U S Y O U R V I E W !
IN the last year of this decade every Irishman is asking: "Will the 'sixties bring an Ireland united, free and prosperous, or will stagnation, decay, unemployment and emigration bring the proud Irish nation
to utter ruin, on its knees before imperialism ?" Well might we ask that question. For it can't go on MUCH longer as it is today, when the
life-blood of the country is ebbing away. What will the 'sixties bring? What will they, indeed?
T?1RST let it be s t a ted as evident t r u t h t ha t m a n
a self-makes
history just as m u c h as his tory makes man.
The n ine teen-s ix t ies wil l br ing w h a t YOU br ing—and tha t means you who read this ar t ic le .
T h e " I r i s h D e m o c r a t " h o l d s f i rm ly to t h e v iew t h a t t h e r e c a n b e n o p r o s p e r i t y i n I r e l a n d , o r e v e n t h e b a s i s f o r b u i l d i n g p r o s p e r i t y , b e f o r e B r i t i s h i m p e r i a l i s m h a s b e e n c l e a n e d o u t of t h e c o u n t r y , lock, s t o c k a n d b a r r e l . A n d we m e a n , lock, s t o c k a n d b a r r e l , w i t h n o c a m o u f l a g e .
P e o p l e w h o s a y t h i s a r e c a l l e d R e p u b l i -c a n s .
T h e " I r i s h D e m o c r a t " is a R e p u b l i c a n p a p e r .
B u t i t is a s p e c i a l k i n d of R e p u b l i c a n t h a t w e a r e — w e be l i eve i n u n d e r s t a n d i n g o u r e n e m y , i n k n o w i n g w h a t we a r e fighting a g a i n s t , a n d f i g h t i n g s c i e n t i f i c a l l y l i k e a j u d o - m a n , u s i n g t h e w e a k n e s s e s i n o u r e n e m i e s ' o w n p o s i t i o n .
And ws address these words in January 1959 to our fellow-Republicans, including those who do not think as we do on all the different aspects of the struggle against imperialism. We are united pos-sibly on only one th ing—that imperialism M U S T b3 fought.
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^ I R S T . d o y o u k n o w w h a t y o u ' r e lit i n g ? W h a t i.s i m p e r i a l i s m ?
h t -
S o i n c p e o p l e s e e it a s a m i l i t a r y l o r c e . T h e y s e e B r i t i s h t r o o p s in I r e l a n d a n d s a y " t h a t ' s B r i t i s h i m p e r i a l i s m . "
A n d , of c o u r s e , t h e y a r e q u i t e r i g h t .
B u t t h e y h a v e n ' t s e e n A L L ot B r i t i s h I m p e r i a l : in ye t . I n d e e d t h e y h a v e n ' t s e e n t h e m o s t i m p o r t a n t p a r t .
P e r h a p s t h e l a w s t h a t e x i s t i n t h e s ix -c o u n t i e s s h o c k t h e m by t h e i r h a r s h b a r -b a r i t y . a n d t h e y s a y " T h e r e y o u a r e , I m -p e r i a l i s m . "
T h e y a r e r i g h t a g a i n b u t s t i l l h a v e n ' t s e e n all .
T h e y f i n d D e V a l e r a p u t t i n g R e p u b l i -c a n s m j a i l . T h a t s e e m s a puzzle . I t ' s a n i m p e r i a l i s t i c t y p e ol a c t i o n , c a r r i e d o u t by a n i n d e p e n d e n t I r i s h s t a t e . H o w c o m e ? H o w d o e s i t c o m e a b o u t t h a t i n s t e a d of d o i n g h i s d u t y a n d U S I N G t h e f a c t of p o l i t i c a l p o w e r of t h e t w e n t y - s i x c o u n t i e s t o w r e s t t h e s i x - c o u n t i e s f r o m B r i t a i n . D e V a l e r a h e l p s B r i t a i n t o h o l d t h e m by p u t -t i n g y o u n g I r i s h m e n in j a i l
To understand that you must get to the R O O T of imperialism. T h a t root is E C O N O M I C . De Valera acts as he does because of the enormous economic power of British imperial ism W I T H I N the boundaries of the independent state.
U n d e r s t a n d t h i s — I f D e v . n a t i o n a l i s e d t h e b a n k s in t h e T w e n t y - S i x C o u n t i e s l ie c o u l d t h r o w S i x - C o u n t y e c o n o m i c l i lc i n t o c h a o s . D i d h e e v e r t h r e a t e n i t ? Y e t w h y n o t ? A b ig p r o p o r t i o n ol n o r t h e a s t i n . h b u s i n e s s is financed t h r o u g h D u b l i n .
Wel l , h e d o e s n ' t . T h e r e a r e B r i t i s h in-v e s t m e n t s in t h e I r i s h b a n k s , t h e r e a r e B r i t i s h d i r e c t o r s o n t h e b o a r d s . I r e l a n d h a s n o t g o t economic i n d e p e n d e n c e .
S o t h e r e ' s t h e root, of I m p e r i a l i s m . E c o n o m i c d o m i n a t i o n bv m o n o p o l y - c a p i -t a l i s m . by b ig m o n i e d i n t e r e s t s T h e m. l i -t a r y , t h e p o l i t i c a l a n d t h e " i d e o l o g i c a l " ( a n y t h i n g t o d o w i t h i d e a s ) a r e s i m p l y
M E A N S t o t h e E N D of e c o n o m i c d o m i n a -t i o n . A n d w h y d o t h e y w a n t e c o n o m i c d o m i n a t i o n ? W h y , i t ' s s i m p l e , t o m a k e p r o f i t . T o l i n e t h e i r p o c k e t s . I r e l a n d is o c c u p i e d , d i v i d e d , k e p t b a c k w a r d a n d w e a k so t h a t t h e r e wil l be m o r e m o n e y i n t h e p o c k e t s of t h e g e n t l e m e n of t j i e C i t y of L o n d o n . I t is a s s i m p l e a s t h a t !
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T V j r E L L , w h a t a r e y o u g o i n g t o d o a b o u t ' * i t ? N o w y o u k n o w w h y y o u ' r e h e r e .
N o w you k n o w w h a t ' s h i t you .
I s n ' t i t o b v i o u s t h a t i m p e r i a l i s m m u s t b e t a c k l e d a c c o r d i n g t o w h a t i t IS AS A W H O L E , a n d n o t a c c o r d i n g t o o n e p a r t of i t .
T h a t is w h e r e w e o f t e n g e t a t c r o s s -p u r p o s e s w i t h m e n w h o s e r e c o r d of r e -p u b l i c a n i s m i s u n i m p e a c h a b l e , a n d fine fighters too , w h o c o n c e n t r a t e o n t h e mil i-tary a s p e c t t o t h e e x c l u s i o n of a l l o t h e r s .
T h e mi l i tary o c c u p a t i o n of I r e l a n d is o n l y t h e e x p r e s s i o n of B r i t i s h T o r y ( a n d r i g h t w i n g L a b o u r ) P O L I C Y . W a r w a s d e s c r i b e d by C l a u s e w i t z a s t h e " c o n t i n u -a t i o n of p o l i t i c s by o t h e r m e a n s . " Po l i -t i c s i.s, of c o u r s e , a m e a n s t o a n e c o n o m i c o b j e c t i v e . A n d w a r is t h e p u r s u i t of t h e a i m s of p o l i t i c s by m e a n s of m i l i t a r y f o r c e . W a r g r o w s o u t of po l i t i c s , a n n e x a t i o n o u t o l d e s i r e f o r e c o n o m i c d o m i n a t i o n .
So it is ridiculous to tackle the mi l i tary expression of Tory politics without tackl-ing Tory politics itself!
E V E R Y Republican should be a poli-t ician — and for a good reason. If he doesn't he'll get licked by the other side.
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A \ r E d o n ' t w a n t t o a d v i s e p e o p l e w i t h i n I r e l a n d h o w t h e y s h o u l d c o n d u c t
t h e i r s t r u g g l e s . W e d o n ' t o f f e r p o l i c i e s f o r o p e r a t i o n in I r e l a n d , t h o u g h w e m a y o c c a s i o n a l l y p e r m i t o u r s e l v e s t h e l u x u r y ot c o m m e n t , e s p e c i a l l y on t h e o r e t i c a l q u e s t i o n s w h i c h a r e of u n i v e r s a l i n t e r e s t .
B u t we D O a d d r e s s o u r s e l v e s t o t h e t h o u s a n d s of I r i s h R e p u b l i c a n s (of v a r i o u s s h a d e s ) w h o a r c in B r i t a i n t o d a y .
L o o k a t u s . W o a r e all p u r s u i n g o u r o w n l i t t l e p e t l i ne . A n d w h o is r e a l l y at r a i d of u s ? C e r t a i n l y n o t t h e B r i t i s h G o v e r n -m e n t . W h y n o t ? B e c a u s e we a r e l e t t i n g t h e m g e t a w a y w i t h i t .
Don't we K N O W that the part i t ion of Ireland is sealed by a British Act of Par-l iament? Don't we know that the Six Counties could not last five minutes with-out the support it gets from Westminster? Don't we know Westminster could wipe it away with the stroke of a pen?
Well t h e n , w h a t a r e we w a i t i n g f o r ? II i.s e a s y w e a r e w a i t i n g " f o r t h e d a y . " T h o u s a n d s of R e p u b l i c a n s w a i t i n g l o r
t h e d a y . M i l l i o n s of I r i s h m e n w a i t i n g f o r t h e
d a y .
A n d a s l o n g a s w e w a i t t h e d a y will n e v e r c o m e .
* # #
\ Y ' H A T a r e w e t o d o ? O b v i o u s l y s t a r t lr i i i i i s m a l l b e g i n n i n g s . T h e r e a i e
s m a l l g r o u p s ol I r i s h m e n in t h e C o n n o l l v A s s o c i a t i o n , t h e An t i - p a r t i t i o n L e a g u e . S i n n F e i n , O A A . G a e l i c L e a g u e , a n d so o n . all o v e r B r i t a i n .
T h e sentiment of all t h e s e is R e p u b l i -c a n .
C a n ' t we Ret b u s y a t R e p u b l i c a n poli-tics in B r i t a i n ?
T a k e o n e s i m p l e t h i n g . C a n ' t w e E N -S U R E t h a t t h e r e a r e N O s e c t i o n s of t h e B r i t i s h L a b o u r m o v e m e n t u n a w a r e of t h s p o s i t i o n m N o r t h - e a s t I r e l a n d ?
C a n ' t w e s y s t e m a t i c a l l y e x p o s e t h e h u m -b u g a n d c a n t of t h o s e s o - c a l l e d p a r l i a -m e n t a r i a n s w h o p r e t e n d t h a t a B r i t i s h M P . c a n n o t e v e n a s k a q u e s t i o n i n t h e H o u s e a b o u t w h a t t h e B r i t i s h G o v e r n m e n t i t se l f is d o i n g ?
C a n ' t w e w o r k t o g e t h e r t o a n s w e r e v e r y s i n g l e l ie a n d m i s r e p r e s e n t a t i o n of o u r c a s e , g r a d u a l l y d i s c r e d i t i n g a n d w e a k e n -i n g t h e e n e m i e s of I r i s h I n d e p e n d e n c e ?
If o n l y t h e C o n n o l l y A s s o c i a t i o n . A . P . L . g r o u p s a n d S i n n F e i n c o u l d c o m e t o g e t h e r
a n d d o t h a t — w h a t a d i f f e r e n c e i t w o u l d m a k e
After all the British Labour movement scarcely l i f ted its finger on the Mallon and Talbot issue—but wasn't the Northeast I reland Government scared of that finger. Scared of a finger. What about the fist, or the a r m ?
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f P H E N a p a r t f r o m p o l i t i c s t h e r e i.s w h a t J - m a y b e c a l l e d t h e i d e o l o g i c a l s ide . J u s t
n o w t h e o l d h o a r y t h e o r i e s of c a p i t u l a t i o n a r e b e i n g g i v e n a " n e w l o o k " by M e s s r s . B a r r i n g t o n a n d C o m p a n y . I t i.s a s y m p -t o m of t h e w e a k n e s s e n g e n d e r e d by p a r t i -t i o n t h a t t h e G o v e r n m e n t of t h e T w e n t y -S i x C o u n t i e s is n o t s t r i v i n g e i t h e r f o r po l i -
• • •
I •
• I I
What will the new decade bring?
What must it bring ? NEARLY "Irish Democrat" opens a discussion
on
PROSPECTS OF STRUGGLE T H E E D I T O R I S N O T R E S P O N S I B L E
C O N T R I B U T O R S ' O P I N I O N S . F O R
s
i jca. i n d e p e n d e n c e f o r al l I r e l a n d , o r f o r t a n n i n e i n d e p e n d e n c e f o r t h e T w e n t y - S i x Coun t i e s ' t h e s e q u e s t i o n s a r e of c o u r s e par t "f t h e s a m e q u e s t i o n ) . H e n c e t h e y a rc " o k i n g f o r c r u m b s f r o m t h e B r i t i s h tab!*' l o o k i n g f o r a c c o m m o d a t i o n , w i t h a n
u n e a s y g l a n c e a t S i n n F e i n . S o t h e t h e o r e t i c i a n s c o m e a l o n g t o
" p r o v e " by t a b l e s a n d h i s t o r y , t h a t w h a t t h e G o v e r n m e n t h a s decided t o d o p o l i t i -c a l l y is good, r i g h t , s o u n d a n d n e c e s s a r y .
B a r r i n g t o n i s m — c a p i t u l a t i o n t o i m -
ON p e r i a l i s m is t h e l a t e s t f a d c a n v a s s e d e v e r y w h e r e . E f f o r t s a r e b e i n g m a d e t o i n s i n u a t e t h i s c r e e d e v e n i n t o t h e L a b o u r m o v e m e n t , a n d " H i b e r n i a " h a d t h e e f f r o n -t e r y t o r e c o m m e n d it t o t h e I R A. D i d you e v e r h e a r ?
W e c o u l d sure ly a l l c o m e t o g e t h e r t o c o m b a t r e a c t i o n a r y i d e a s w h i c h ( h o w e v e r h o n e s t t h e i r i n v e n t o r s m a y be) s e r v e t h e i n t e r e s t s of i m p e r i a l i s m .
F o r t h a t we m u s t p u b l i s h f a c t s ; we m u s t d i s t r i b u t e l i t e r a t u r e ; w e m u s t s p e a k i n p u b l i c .
THIS IS WHAT THE NORTH NEEDS I U I N E T E E N - F I F T Y - N I N E on t o p of
us a l r e a d y . T h a t m e a n s w e ' l l soon be in to t h e n i n e t e e n - s i x t i e s . A n d t h i n g s a r e g e t t i n g w o r s e a n d w o r s e . A t least in I r e l a n d t h e y c e r t a i n l y a r e , i n c l u d i n g the S i x Count ies .
God knows what it will be like in the next year and the ten years to come if th ings go on the way they're going now. But whatever happens, what are the people's leaders in the Six Counties going to do about it?
Labour men and Republicans—who re-gard themselves as more advanced and enlightened than the ordinary run of folk — w h a t are T H E Y going to do about it?
Are they going to sit in their parlours and talk about the "hopelessness" of "con-verting" Orangemen to "socialist ideas"? Or scoff at the possibility of convert ing Unionist workers to the "democratic ideal" of a united republic?
Or are they going to wake up and give real leadership in P O L I T I C A L A C T I O N to the "slumbering masses," as they ought?
THE year that's just gone saw unemploy-ment in the Six Counties soar to the
one-in-tcn mark. In some places they're burning sticks again to boil the Sunday broth (but nowadays they keep it dark from the neighbours).
An old woman, out to visit her grand-children in ons of Belfast's new housing estates, where a survey showed S I X T Y PER CENT, of the people to be l iving below subsistence level, stood at the bus-stop and took a deep breath:
"They say the air's brave and healthy out here," she said. "But, m ind you, it's not so handy for the buroo." An old shipyard man in the pub said—
"Mind you, I 'm not what you'd call communistic, but . . ." He wasn't communistic, BUT he knew
things are rotten for the working m a n in this Tory glory-hole, the Six Counties.
A grey-haired mother on the Falls Road wept over Christmas for her son, a second year in the cold cells on the Cruml in Road
innocent, uncharged and untried.
I S this to be the pattern lor the coming years only worse? Arc we to continue
wi th the situation where a house is Judged by its "handiness" to the dole; where cheating employers can still get away wi th the robbery of paying a miserable wage for work that's worth twice as much (espe-cially for women) ; where police and government can trample brazenly on human rights and political liberties
A situation in which the M A J O R I T Y ol the people know something is wrong, but don't know just what? And where those who do know 'just what" fail to give leadership to the people?
Wi l l the Democrats let the people down, or will they be real "men of the people?"
I S there even one genuine Labour man 1 in the Six Counties who could deny that there is at least SOME connection between all these things — between all the features of the Tory robber-employers' paradise and the Tory political state wi th its ugly anti - democratic face and its f lout ing of basic human rights?
The answer is, there is not one—even the "pure' ' socialist who "dislikes" the nat ional ism of the republicans—who does not K N O W that there is some connection. He knows that these are all features of permanent Tory rule of this two-thirds of a province. He knows that the Royalist, Orange prejudices, on which Tory rule is founded, are precisely the prejudices used by Tory ism to C R E A T E the Six-County state and at the same t ime precisely the prejudices used by Toryism to baulk any socialist, labour or democratic develop-mant.
There is a connection all r ight. It's all part of the same anti-democratic system. The Republicans know it tao.
Is there one genuine Republican who can deny that tha depressed wage rates and unemployment are just other features of the same Tory state that stands in the way of unity and independence for Ire-land?
Tha answer is, there is not one real Republican even a "pure" Republican who does not "believe" in socialism who does not know that our general backward-ness, our poverty in both "jobs and cul-ture," is due to imperialist domination, and tha t our miserable employers are existing on the protection of the Tory state.
*
THAT then are we all going to DO about it? Generalities are no use to
us here. There's nothing hard in saying, To hell wi th all this. Let's 'fight for
soslalism,' let's spread socialist ideas'," etc., etc. But it's t ime we took a close look at the political situation which con-fronts us, and realised that such talk is quack medicine for our troubles.
We can't tackle the realities of the poli-tical system which we know very well, with generalities that amount to nothing mare t h a n "preaching."
A socialist is not P R A C T I S I N G social-ism unless he makes a direct assault on the polit ical arrangement under his nose, an arrangement which he is out to change. He will never succeed in chang-ing it if he ignores ANY of its immediate aspects, if he falls to give political leader-ship in action against every manifestat ion of it.
And in the Six Count ies—YOU K N O W W H A T T H A T MEANS. Let us hope some-body wil l impress it on Mr . Gaitskcll when he visits us.
* A N D what are the Republicans going to
do if they continue to do no more than they have done in the past?
They will continue to make enormous efforts, to give great personal sacrifice. But wi l l they S U C C E E D I N G E T T I N G what they want, if they, too, ignore certain aspects of the political real i ty confronting them?
A contribution from our Belfast
Correspondent
w l
Will the sacrifices be made in vain? Are the unselfish lads who give their lives and liberties to go on doing so W I T H O U T RESULT?
I t s a terrible question, but surely the whole point of conducting a struggle is to achieve the objective. And if we appear to be gett ing no further towards A C H I E V -ING the objectiva, can we blame some if they become discouraged
Can we honestly say, despite tTie sacri-fices. that the republican movement is A D V A N C I N G if it is not in fact gatting any N E A R E R its objective?
With the humbleness of one who has NOT made personal sacrifice, I suggest it is not enough for republicans either merely to preach the "ideals of republi-canism" in general, or even to back their " m e s s a g e " just with direct action against ONLY ONE aspect of this Tory glory -hole , its judicial and mil i tary aspect.
*
A R E P U B L I C A N must deal wi th politi-cal realities. A republican is not PRAC-
T IS ING a thoroughgoing, all-round republicanism if he fails to attack the political arrangement which he opposes IN EVERY POSSIBLE W A Y , if he fails to take opportunities to apply political action in every possible sphere, as Wolfe Tone did.
It is well known that when the United Irishmen f o u n d e d republicanism in Ireland, there was no "republicanism trad-ition ' to appeal to. It is known that Wolfe Tone founded his republicanism on the urgent N E C E S S I T Y , in the common inter-ests of all the people, for independence from Bri ta in. It is known that it was ON THE BASIS of this real common interest that Wolfe Tone S U C C E E D E D in achicve-in« that union of Ir ishmen with the common object of an independent Ireland.
Does such a genuine, urgent and common interest exist also today for Irishmen? Is it also A B S O L U T E L Y NEC-ESSARY today, for the prosperity and free development of our country, to aclueve unity and idependence?
Facts galore havo been published in the past year in both socialist and republican journals to show that this is indeed the case, even more so now than ever before.
Fven an Orangeman was heard to declare last year that "What we want is one ^ood government instead of two bad ones. '
Tiius, while people in general are not responding to the preaching of "socialist id'as" or the "Ideals of republicanism," the facts of life, and their A C T U A L common interests can indocd draw them alonK lines which can only end in their fusion in a movement for a common goal.
Political action means to draw them along, and encourage them along those line, on evcry-day matters.
Thus , there does indeed exist the grounds for a unity of I r ishmen particularly the work ing people of I re land, in a movement for uni ty and independence.
* O U T strange to relate, this common ° interest, and this C O M M O N N E E D for independence tends to be played down by the very Labour men and republicans who need it.
T h e Labour men tend to play it down because of its awkward political implica-tions. So they indulge Instead in generali-ties about "fighting for socialism."
T h e republicans, when you B A L A N C E T H E W E I G H T O F ALL T H E I R A C T I O N S tend to underestimate the im-portance of this vital common need, and instead emphasise the general "ideal" of a united Ireland. ,
I th ink socialists would be a bit more socialist, and republicans a bit more republican if they paid more at tent ion to al l - round political action.
* M O W a wee lecture for socialists and
republicans, if they please don't mind. Do all you socialists and all you repub-
licans really believe you ARE socialists and republicans because you are more intel l igent or more idealistic than the ordinary man?
Don't kid yourselves. Everyone knows that wherever you find capitalism, you f ind a Labour formed curtained socialists. And you socialists are just some of them
nature's children. And wherever you f ind national oppression you find people revolt ing against it, some ot whom become republicans.
Of course, there's no doubt that most of you socialists and republicans individually are indeed people of advanced views, of greater intelligence and nobler ideals. Both the Labour ^nd republican move-ments have produced leaders of the high-est intellect and nobil ity.
But ths point is, there are also intelli-gent and good men who are neither Labour nor republican. You know that. It 's just another way of saying, " I t takes all sorts to make a world."
T h e socialists and the republicans are just the "political" sort, those who have somehow acquired a political conscious-ness and therefore SEE things better than even some of their equally-intelligent neighbours.
Most people, of course, arc the non-polit ical sort, the sort who "don't bother much" about politics—except . . .
Except what? T H A T IS T H E LESSON. E X C E P T IN T I M E S W H E N G R E A T P O L I T I C A L E V E N T S D R A W T H E M A S S E S OF T H E PEOPLE I N T O POLI -
T I C A L ACTION. T h e last time that happened in Ireland
was during the war for independence. Tha t ' s the last t ime the masses of the people were really "caught up" in politics, w h e n politics dominated their thoughts and actions from day to day.
And it is just because that was ths last t ime when the real masses participated in politics, that the "ideas" of those times stil l stick in the minds of most p e o p l e -in Belfast mainly in the form of appar-ent ly "stubborn" Orange prejudices.
T h e ideas were put there by E V E N T S . You won't remove them by P R E A C H I N G .
They wiN only be removed when F U R -T H E R EVENTS draw them once more into widespread polit ical action.
Since they will only be removed in action, it is clearly t i m e for the advanced, politically-conscious people to start lead-ing t h e m in action, to wake up and stop preaching their favouri te "ideas" in general, to draw the people, in aotion on immediate political questions, along the general direction which leads to their ult i -mate ideals.
1 I / H A T would tha t mean in practice? * * W h a t must Democrats do to meet
the coming year, the spreading cloud of poverty and the cont inuing political arro-gance of our Tory rulers?
T h e first and most welcome act would be for all genuine socialists to get to-gether and declare their objective of a united country independent of imperial-ism which would enable the working people to advance democratically towards socialism. That would first be defining the P A T H of political action.
For doesn't every socialist know that socialism is democratic and M U S T arise from a united people? And what socialist really believes it is possible for the people to advance united w i t h i n the present poli-tical situation, when they do not even possess the demooratic right to control their own destiny?
T h a t would mean in practice l inking every immediate demand on unemploy-ment , redundancy and political freedoms with the objective of a united, indepen-dent Ireland. Such action, on immediate political events, would show the "non-political" sorts the A C T U A L L INK between their immediate interests and the goal of a united, independent socialist land.
Such action would remove socialism from being an evangelical preaching, and would make it become a real political force.
For republicans, practical political action would mean jo in ing with ail demo-cratic political elements—particularly in the labour movement—for action on every I M M E D I A T E , l imited democratic demand. For isn't the central objective of the republican movement the democratic demand for the r ight of the Irish psople to self-determination? And don't the re-publicans declare they work for all Ir ish-men, so why should they refuse any help f rom Irishman in A D V A N C I N G their poli-tical objectives?
T h a t means for the republicans the seeking of ways and means of carrying out polit ical action in al l possible L E G A L ways.
I n fact such polit ical action by the re-publicans would in effect do far more to advance "republican ideas" than any amount of preaching.
And such action by the republicans, g iv ing immediate, practical implementa-tion to their objective of securing a fusing of al l Irishmen with the common aims of independence, would be no more than the same practical methods used by Wolfe Tone when he was building up that first republican union.
If this were done 1!>59 would leave a legacy behind which would make the six-ties the turning point of the twentieth ccntury.
US And remember, if we F A I L to do this,
the imperialists will succeed in getting T H E I R ideas into the heads of Irish people and these will A C T U P O N T H E M .
T h a t is w h y i m p e r i a l i s m m u s t be f o u g h t a s a w h o l e a n d i n t h e d i f f e r e n t w a y s i t e x h i b i t s i t s e l f .
' T H E s t r u g g l e a g a i n s t i m p e r i a l i s m is a J - p o l i t i c a l s t r u g g l e , i t h a s t o b e w a g e d
e v e r y d a y — n o t j u s t o n " t h e d a y . " I t c a n b e w a g e d by a n y b o d y w h o is p r e p a r e d t o b e c o m e o r g a n i s e d . T h e r e i s n o s p e c i a l b r a i n - p o w e r o r a b i l i t y r e q u i r e d . N o b o d y is G r a d e B or p h y s i c a l l y u n f i t .
W h a t we w a n t is a u n i t e d p l a n t o b e a t t h e i m p e r i a l i s t s .
O u r t e n t a t i v e s u g g e s t i o n is t h a t w e s h o u l d c o n c e n t r a t e o n p e r s u a d i n g e n o u g h L a b o u r M P s t o f o r m a P a r l i a m e n t a r y g r o u p s t r o n g e n o u g h t o b r e a k t h r o u g h t h e H o m e S e c r e t a r y ' s r e f u s a l t o d i s c u s s w h a t h e C A N d i s c u s s — t h e S i x C o u n t i e s . T h e i s s u e t o d o i t o n is t h e s e m i - f a s c i s t l a w s in t h a t a r e a .
But! O F C O U R S E t h e r e will b e b u t s m a l l r e s u l t if P A R L I A M E N T A L O N E is cons i -d e r e d t h e w h o l e s t o r y .
P a r l i a m e n t a r y a c t i o n — w h i c h cou ld e n d in a d e c i s i o n t o r e p e a l t h e I r e l a n d A c t a n d s t a r t o n t h e G o v e r n m e n t of I r e l a n d A c t — w o u l d o n l y b e p o s s i b l e provided t h e r e w a s a p o w e r f u l m o v e m e n t t h r o u g h o u t t h e c o u n t r y , demanding t h a t a c t i o n b e t a k e n .
Does anybody suggest a mill ion Irish could not create a strong enough move-ment? Does anybody suggest that the combined brains and energies of all the Republicans H E R E A L R E A D Y would be insufficient to lead it?
So, a g a i n , w h a t a r e we w a i t i n g f o r ?
I T is t r u e I r e l a n d c a n n o t b e f r e e d i n J - a d a y . B u t w e a r e n o w e n t e r i n g t h e m a s t c r u i c a l p e r i o d of t h e w o r l d ' s h i s t o r y , t h e p e r i o d w h i c h will d e c i d e t h e f a t e of i m p e r i a l i s m on a world scale.
I s I r e l a n d s o m e m y s t e r i o u s e x c e p t i o n ? I s w h a t h a s h a p p e n e d in E g y p t , I n d i a , G h a n a , I n d o n e s i a a n d e l s e w h e r e impos-sible t h e r e ?
Throughout the world nations are secur-ing independence. What does that mean? It means we are l iving In the times when imperial ism has seen its days. Its sun is setting on the world. Everything about it has gone into a decline. And the nineteen-sixties are going to see it de-feated in country after country despite all its despairing effort to rally.
And therefore again—what are we wait-ing for?
Uni te ! Organise! Get into politics!
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V '.O t̂
CONFERENCE • H O L B O R N H A L L
22 F E B R U A R Y
S u n d a y 10 a .m. to 5 p.m.
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C I V I L L I B E R T Y I N
N O R T H - E A S T I R E L A N D
A N D T H E R E S P O N S I B I L I T Y
O F T H E B R I T I S H
G O V E R N M E N T
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V, ,
6 THE IRISH DEMOCRAT January 1959
GAELIC GAME c By C LAUGH ANN
SUNDAY, NOV. 16th
SPORTS REVIEW - by -
P A T M C D O N N E L L
T E Y T O N ' S 19-year-old joe Elwood is one of the best young forwards in Division
I I . A native of Belfast, Joe is certa in ly m a r k e d for in ternat ional honours.
O u r old fr iend R m t y M o n a g h a n has t a k e n over a club in London, a n d the golden rule for membersh ip — "No fight-ing."
* *
T o a "Dai ly Herald" sports columnist . T h e juke-box tune you heard in a gym on the Old Kent Road was "Nobody L O V E S like an I r ishman," and not "No-body likes an I r ishman."
Dublin-born Dick Whi t laker , Chelsea r ight -back, may soon be m new colours. T h e East-Wall man is the subject of en-quir ies f rom many clubs.
* * *
Southend United are interested in two I r i sh goa l i es -Noe l Dwyer (Wolves) and in te rna t iona l J immy O'Neil l ( E v e r t o n ) .
Well, well, well. Noel Cantwell (West Han i ) ha s been moved into the half-back line. Come, come, Ted Fenton, move the lad back to his usual ber th .
F r o m Bedford, Dunstable, K imbo l ton a n d St. Neots, our lads and lassies crowd into Luton to see Billy B i n g h a m a n d George Cummins and these two Ir ish-m e n are certainly p laying a m a j o r part in keeping Luton in Division I.
I r i sh jockeys resident here a re in much d e m a n d . One of the best is J . Lehane , whom I would recommend to any owner .
P iga l le Wonder, one of the best grey-h o u n d s on British t racks in 1958. is I r ish bred. Owned now by N. Purvis, "Pigal le" previously raced at Harolds Cross, Dublin
V W W W W A V W W W W i
f t
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Biggest eyer ST. P A T R I C K S N I G H T
D A N C E in the
L U X U R I O U S P O R C H E S T E R H A L L
L Q N O Q N , W 2
BOOK T H E D A T E ! J
V W W W W W W J V A W . " .
AN O T H E R of London's G.A.A. com-petitions came to a conclusion
when St. Mart in's defeated Cashen Rovers in the Intermediate Hur l ing championship.
This means tha t St. M a r t i n ' s will test their hur l ing ta lents aga ins t London's senior t eams next season. T h a t t h e Saints would be a t t he head of th i s compet i t ion I predicted earlier this year. Bu t in this a l l - important game agains t C a s h e n s the Sa in t s were very nearly coming unstuck. As Cashens launched a t tack a f t e r a t tack it seemed the writing was on t h e wall for the Saints , but their defence held firm and so they go into the senior r a n k s next season.
In half-backs Crotty. Dinan a n d Shana-ghan, Si. Mart in 's had heroes to a man. while in the penul t imate de fence line Loughran was a tower of s t r e n g t h . T h e m.dlic-ld link m this fine side was ably main ta ined by McLoughlin. who supplied ihe desired number and qual i ty of passes to lively a t t ack ing forwards in t h e persons <;l O'Hallnran. M. Ryan and T. Keane .
T h a t this wasn' t Cashcns day was not due to lack of endeavours by such wholehear ted performers as Wilson. Dowl-ing and Laide in the defence a n d Lewis and Diggens in the f r o n t r ank . Taken all round, the display of both t e a m s was in keeping with the prize a t s t ake and the final tally of four goals t h ree points to two goals four points in f avour of St. Mar t in ' s was a justifiable m a r g i n .
JUNIOR HURLING CHAMPIONSHIP
Bros. Pearse 5-4, Sean Treacy's 1-4 Also at Avery Hill, New E l tham, we saw
old-t imers Bros. Pearse add another honour to their long list when they soundly vanquished Sean Treacy 's . The result in fac t was seldom in doubt . In a stylish a n d free-scoring Bros. Pearce at-tack the men to catch t h e eye were R. Power, M. Donaghue (both po t en -tial seniors) and Dooley, while in defence all work was very competent ly carr ied out by Greal i sh and Grealy. In a Sean Treacy 's t eam which while outclassed was never subdued the most de termined and successful efforts came f r o m Finnerty, Hor r igan and Leonard.
SUNDAY, NOV. 23rd Cashen Rovers 2-8, Emeralds 2-7
T h e Rovers, who a week earlier had been defea ted in the In te rmedia te cham-pionship by St. Martin 's , m a d e no mistake
• in the League final. The winners s ta r ted in a m a n n e r which indicated the i r deter-minat ion to amend previous defeats . De-spi te the closeness of the scores a t the end, Rovers looked winners all t h e way.
The chief architects of t h e winning plan were the midfiold pair D a r g a m and Bolger. Also playing a n o t h e r fine game for the winners was Laide, ably supported by Quill. Hickey, Butler a n d MacDonnell . The Emeralds played construct ively but just lacked t h a t little some th ing in m:d-field. They got yeomen service f rom Heflernan, O'Brien and Neville.
SUNDAY, NOV. 30th Geraldmes 2-3, St. Brendans 0-3
In th is game Gerald ines worked a com-paratively easy passage in to t h e final of
t h e Jun io r football championsh ip of Lon-don. Both these t e a m s seemed to be of equal skill and capabil i ty 111 all depar t -m e n t s with the notable exception of the midfield sphere of activities. Here it was very evident that in Willie O'Neill and J e m Porter Geraldines had the s t a r s ot t he game. These two outsped and out-wit ted their opposite numbers a n d in-spired their own team-mates. .
Every score made by the winners and every a t tempt at scor ing was s t a r t ed by e i ther O'Neill or Por ter . Had the re been a little more guile and pene t ra t ion a f t e r t he score would have been colossal. As it was Abbot. McKearney and Gribbon, t u r n e d in a workmanlike pe r fo rmance and f o u n d the target regularly.
At half-back Burke and Kerr ins were T h i s Bros. Pearse side is every inch a
adequate , while in the r ea rguard the re was s t r eng th and resourcefulness 111 the display of T. Mulvihill. In a r a t h e r oxer-awed St. Brendan side, one sympa th i sed with the gameness and courage ol such as Frawley. Barton, Mullen and Sul l ivan
SUNDAY, NOV. 23rd LONDON SENIOR
FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP
Gar ryowen 2-5, Round T o w e r s 1-3 R o u n d Towers, ins tead ol consolidat ing
an early first-half lead, deter iorated badly wi th the result t h a t Garryowen, grasping the chance with both hands (and leet i . took a grip on the g a m e which they never re lented. It might be said at this stage t h a t T. Egan and O'Connor, the Round Towers midfield pair , should never have been on the losing side—they played them-selves into the g round r ight t h roughou t the game and served up enough scoring c h a n c e s lor their forwards.
But let me has ten to add, before it is p resumed tha t luck was the predomina t -ing factor, tha t Garryowen ma in t a ined t h a t consistency of effort and skill needed to produce victory. They stayed the course be t te r as a team and indeed m the end showed an obvious reserve of s t a m i n a which seemed to indicate a more thorough pre -match training.
Pat Quinn sealed the ma tch for Ga r ry -owen with a real beauty of a goal midway th rough the second hal f . Other s t a r s for the winners were Glennor , Moran and Murphy, half-backs; in the f ron t l ine the Q u i n n brothers, W a t e r s and McLoughlm were impressive. R o u n d Towers were best seived by Spillane, T ie rnan , Holohan and Harr i son .
SUNDAY, DEC. 7th JUNIOR HURLING L E A G U E
FINAL Bros. Pearce 4-3, Michael Cusacks 0-2 Bros. Pearse, who had already won the
G l e m o r Hurl ing championship , had little difficulty m adding the league to their honours . Cusacks, who might flippantly be called "Clare Dragoons" (13 of their p layers were Cla remeni were never really m the game as a t e am and yet they had
some of t h e best individual h u r l e o n view m Pander . Hurley and Casey.
This Bros. Pearse side is every inch a really first-class Junior side; in discussion with some of the experts a f t e r t h e s a m e I hea rd it said that t ins t e am was man for man t h e best Junior side seen in Lon-don for finite some years. Once again it was a case of the irresistible force is i in the shape of Power and D o n a g h u e in par-t icular a n d generally the re was no stop-ping FstzGerald. Malony. Connors , Kelly, Greal lv a n d Lynch. In add i t ion to those already ment ioned. Cusacks got a really honest effor t f rom T. Casey.
JUNIOR L E A G U E SEMI-FINAL
Geraldines 3-4, Michael Davit ts 2-2 Gera ld ines made absolutely su re of en-
ter ing the final of yet a n o t h e r London Jun io r competi t ion when they accounted for Michael Davitts in a n en te r t a in ing game. Parnel ls . whom Gera ld ines meet m the final, will really have to pmduce .something special to s top t h i s all-conquer ing Junior side.
This was another one of these one-man personal t r i u m p h s - b e c a u s e Willie O'Neill was out on his own at midfield and piayed the sort of game that has m a d e h im one oi the best drawing cards a t Avery Hill th i - season. But ol course, even indivi-duals of W i l l i e s calibre don ' t win compe-t i t ion ; except, as is the case with Geral-dine's. they arc supported by the i r team-mates.
T h e r e were 15 keen, construct ive , go-ahead players wearing t h e Gera ld ines colours and indeed it is th is f ine team-work which has made Gera ld ines such a force th is season. If anybody really does merit special mention (besides Willie O'Neill i. I suppose it would have to be men like T. Mulvey, Burke, McKearney and M. Traynor .
Michael Davit ts cont inue to show im-provement and have really promis ing men in Cal lan, Somers and Lowney.
By the t ime this report appea r s 1958 will have gone. Perhaps it would not be i nappropr i a t e to wish all London Gaels a very happy and prosperous 1959, and also may one who has a t all t imes followed with keen interest and p leasure all t he activi t ies of all my exiled fellow country-men th is side of the Irish Sea say thanks for all t h e pleasure derived f r o m such activities.
To London G.A.A. personnel , a special t h a n k s for their activities in t he i r respec-tive spheres might go out to people like J im Mullarkey. the hard-work ing presi-dent of t he G.A.A. To Willie Barron lor the pa r t he plays as one of t h a t hard-working band who receive so little men-tion- I mean, of course, Willie t h e referee of G.A.A. games.
A special thanks to Senior players J o h n n y Kiely and F, Spi l lane and indeed to an ou ts tanding Jun ior player in the person of Willie O'Neill.
T h e G.A.A. London Convent ion takes place ear ly in 1959 and it is learned t h a t all exis t ing officials are s t and ing for re-election.
CONNOLLY ASSOCIATION and Irish Self-Dctermination League
Application for Membership
I WISII TO J O I N T H E C O N N O L L Y A S S O C I A T I O N
N a m e
Address
P o s t w i t h 5 / - to H e a d Office, 374 Grays Inn Road, London. W.G.I
Annual Subscription 5 / -
W H Y Y O U SHOULD SUPPORT THIS ~ \ \ T E Irish are not the impat ien t race
" * we aip of ten described as. But at t h e same time we do like Quick results.
If I were to ask for a hundred men to boo Churchill or Macmil lan as they came out of their clubs. I'd get them like a shot, no ma t t e r what t he penalties. T h a t is, ot course, supposing the re were someth ing special to boo them about.
Bu t now I'm asking for something which doesn ' t have t h a t quick palpable result which anylxidv can see.
I 'm asking every reader of the "Irish Democra t" to collect money lor t he paper as one little bit of a long job.
I t will be a long hard job ge t t ing Ire-land tree. That ha s to be faced, and il it 's going to l>e long, there is not less reason, but more reason, lor beginning now,
* * * \ \ ' H Y cannot the Democrat ' pay its * ' war like o ther newsuapers? For the
f ac t is, it can't . Not. of course, that you won' t hear voices swearing they saw its s t a l l touring the Riviera in Rolls-Royces
but facts are facts , and our enemies seem to do ft wee bit better t h a n we do.
T h e reason is simple. Our policy of uncompromising opposition to imperial-ism means we get no adverts, and the
J ) E S ci
wholesalers have boycotted our distribu-tion. T h a t ' s why you get your "Democra t" l rom a working man who sells it m his spare t ime and get nothing fo r doing it. (Would the enemy Press find anybody p repa red to do this?)
So we have to make u p t h e gap some way.
And tha t ' s where YOU come in. * * *
E S P I T E the carping of Ill-informed •ritics, and the never-ending denun-
ciation ol Orange and G r e e n Tories, we Ix'lieve we give you service, and are m a k i n g some headway.
T h e r e never was a year when so many t rade unions, t rades councils and consti tu-ency Labour part ies (to ment ion only some organisat ions) discussed the Irish quest ion as in 1958.
And we're bound to tell you that this would not have happened w i t h o u t t h e "I r i sh Democrat.1 '
But its circulation could be three t imes as big.
We are asking you now to write us a t t he earl iest opportuni ty Send us your donat ion , and also here 's an Idea write a le t ter with it and tell us why you send il We'll publish a selection f rom the let-ters t lrat come m.
January 1959 T H E IRISH DEMOCRAT
Edited by Sean Redmond
THE MESSAGE OF BLAKE
T H E E V E R L A S T I N G G O S P E L . "
A. L. M o r t o n (Lawrence & Wishar t ) .
V f O S T of us a t some t ime h a v e read ' -* some ot Blake's works but on trying to reach a n appreciat ion of h i m have per-h a p s found h i m complex a n d confusing. BJake, up to quite recently, h a s been sh. 'ouded in a haze of mysticism and sym-fcri.sm a n d the re has been very few a t t e m p t s to g r a sp the n a t u r e of th is man who has been called one of t h e greatest Engl ish revolutionary poets.
A. L. Mor ton ' s book claims to be "A study in the sources of Blake." By examin-ing his ideas, Mr. Morton shows the effects t he upheavals of t h e period in which he lived had on his outlook, thus present ing a clearer picture ol t he man a n d his writ ings. Blake f rom a n early age. pe rhaps because he was a m a n u a l worker unders tood t h e na tu re of society with its one law? for t he rich and one for the poor.
"Our h a r d masters laugh a t all our sorrow.
We are m a d e to turn t h e wheel for water .
To carry the heavy baske t on our scourched shoulders, to s i f t
T h e sand and ashes, and to mix the d a y with tears and r epen t ance . . .
Fur rowed with ships, a n d our flesh bruised with the heavy basket ."
Elake as a Christ ian, rebelled against this, which brought him into conflict with the class a n d the Es tabl i shed Church which benefited f rom this division.
Blake's poems express his h a t r e d of the . - :em unde r which t h e major i ty ol ; , ; p i e lived all their lives in want and Uar . this outr ight condemnat ion resulted in his living under repression and to the f a i t tha t his works were not widely read. T ' t -y were read only bv var ious religious s e n s who purposely mis in te rpre ted them.
Blake was an art is t and an extraordi-nary man , it was his very Chr i s t i an out-1 >k tha t made him write as he did ot the
r : :<• cd class. He lived in London all In-!•,«.» (3757-18271 except for a few years • sent in Sussex. We have a m p l e evidence ,:i ii:s i.-oems to say that he was influenced ; it a l i t t le by the various religious sect-. : h o : numerous in London, a n d in particu-:ir i the Ranters , whose beliefs lie shared
;•' dur ing Ins life. He saw in the >.<:.,!) Revolution the fu l f i lment ol the !,- • ' s and aspira t ions ol t h e people.
5 . ' • at a t ime when all t h e other Eng--h pons . who had also hai led the Ilevo-
.'!.• . :i and subsequentlv be t rayed it be-cru'-e Mi"v could not u n d e r s t a n d it He
." had confidence in Ins own class to I ; Id ::.at just society—he called that - . ic;;. Je rusa lem.
We Ir ish can aoureciate (he stri'gt'.le 1 Blake agains t tyranny and the "mind-
t L'< (I manac les" for was not his light p a a m s t the existence ol th i s greed eor-:i:t:!ri nnllowner class our fight also n ra j i i s ' th is same class which today own " ! we;:l 'h ol o u r land T h e r e f o r e take to '...'nti these words of Blake:
"J wil! no t cease from m e n t a l fight. Nor iiall my sword sleep in my hand T i l ' we have built J e rusa l em in Eng land ' s green and n leasant land
I.ft these words br a guide to us not : If-ne '.< r their poetic beautv. but m the »: : c(.(/e tha t their real isat ion lies 111 the
i:.o- i'1 those who toil.
C c C « •
« C
C
HOW IS SHE GOVERNED?
"Representative Government in Ireland," Dail Eireann, 1919-48. By J. L. McCracken. Ox ford University Press. 30/-.
A N essential requirement to the new and rising generations is a History of Ireland for the past 50 years. It wil l need to be an account based
on scientific principles and not an apologia for a particular Par ty or "line." The period after the Treaty is, in particular, a blank to us of the younger generation. It w i l l be necessary before Republicanism and Democracy can unite Ireland.
T h i s book is not s u c h an account but Force , : their report was ext remely un-it is one of the most use fu l books vet to favourable to the troops. (Compare tins help supply that need. T h e au thor is w l t h Gaitskell 's wishy-washy conduct over Professor of Historv in Magee University Cyprus and "air bays"! T h a n k God for
Barbara Castle.) . A special council for "Peace with I re land" was set up and men
ken" "its main "at t r ibute V t h e " a b s o l u t e l i k e Professor Gilbert Mur ray , Sidney Webb, the Bonham Carters a n d o t h e r s -liberals (with the small "1") a n d those in the Labour Movement. Again proving
th ree sec t ionsT the Revolu t ionary Dail. it t h a t I r i s h (Democratic) Republicanism can always find friends in Br i ta in .
College, Derr.v, which m i g h t set some people off it. They would be quite mis-ta t mine of information, s o m e of which is very impor tan t research work.
T h e book can be divided roughly into
rise a n d work: the Cons t i tu t iona l Dail. its development, the poli t ical part ies repre-sen ted in it. elections, in fact a short his-
Tlie au thor does a very g r e a t service by analysing the Dail membersh ip of
tory of tha t period ( u p to 1948); and those heroic days. It was a young finally the actual work ings of the Dail. assembly—nearly 60 per cent of the 1918 how they changed, compar i sons with the and 1921 Dails were under 40 years of House of Commons. Wes tmins te r and so age. But th is is only n a t u r a l in any on. revolution when the r i s ing generation
In t h e first section we have a shor t ac- must take the lead. More interest ing is count of the rise of S i n n Fein and the the study of the class composi t ion of the es tab l i shment of t he Revolut ionary Dail two Dails. This , incidentals-, is a job
t ha t Ir ish Socialists should have done years ago. T h e author gives us facts.
in 1919. How the t h r e e separa t is t move-ments . the Sinn Fein of Griff i th, t he Re-publ icans of the I R B. and the Socialist From what section of I r ish society did Republ icans led by Connol ly joined forces those leaders spring? T h e au tho r calls on t h e one issue—anti-Bri t ish imperialism, the Dail "clearly an urban middle class
Incidental ly, he shows here how much body." And states " the core of the Re-closer in sympathy t h e Republicans were publican Movement was cons t i tu ted from to Connolly than to G r i f f i t h and the "old" among the lower social g roups within the S i n n Fein. And t h u s a f t e r 1916 at t he middle class." In other words t h e National i naugura l convention we already find Bourgeousie the same type of people who t h e split between Republ icans and " lef t s" a n d Ar thur Griff i th a n d the right. On
won out in Egypt under Nasser . This very fac t gives us the key to under-
J a n u a r y 21st, 1919, t h e Revolut ionary s tand the t ragic treaty split . Because the Dail was founded: but of t he 69 members Labour Pa r ty and working c lass played no 34 were in prison! g rea t struggle.
And then s tar ted the leading pa r t it was possible for the British Government to d i s rup t the Re-
Tl ie tremendous j ingo i sm in Britain did publicans. It was not for n o t h i n g tha t not swav the friends of I re land to be found Connolly called the working class the in t h e labour movemen t and in liberal only incorruptible inher i tors of Republi-circles. Read what t h e "Morning Pos t" canism. I t is easy to u n d e r s t a n d how (now merged with t h e "Daily Te legragh" said of Dail Eireann - t h i s is a real gem:
some of the "men of proper ty ," as Wolfe Tone calls them, were to compromise.
Dail Eireann is closed for repairs and After all. they had something to lose, t h e hundred and t w e n t y for murder who In the work of the Revolut ionary Dail have made the M a n s i o n House melodi- this class charac ter p redomina ted . The ous lor the last two weeks have gone "State within a State" policy was carried home to tell the Dum-Dum Fr iends ' out -Republican Courts set up; Local League what it feels like to be really Government disassociated f r o m Dublin i:, eat. Dublin looks quite dull wi th- Committee. Republican loans, etc.—and .•it them. Di overs' l e w tigs and d u t y this was Revolution! But in the West
n.' k- the ollicial un i fo rm of the Sinn there was land hunger. And to the land-1-,'in commandant have disappeared less revolution meant social revolution— and this morning a di lapidated young and that meant land. And so a great prole tar ian wiili a football fr inge and wave ol ca t t le driving, lence levelling and no collar, .-.pilling flamboyantly into invasion of the large graz ing ranches the Liffey. was pointed out to me as t h e clerk ot the house "
broke out. T h e "Irish Bul le t in" of August 5th. 1921. said: "The nunc! ol the people
Even the Egypt ians and Nasser didn't was being diverted from t h e struggle for get a t tacks like t ha t on them. And so freedom into a class war and there was it roall . meant a lot 111 such an atmos- even a possibility that t he I.R.A. itself. pliere to stand up lo> Ire land And men d:d s tand up lor I r e l and m Britain. T h e l abour Partv sent a special commission to
largelv composed of t a n n e r s ' sons, might be allei 'c:! ."
The Dail stopped this revolutionary tide. mvt" 11 the conduc t of the Crown showing tha t to them " f r eedom" did not
Cet €rin Remember (When Thomas Moore played the air of this song for his friend, Robert Emmet, the latter exclaimed: "Oh, that I were at the head of 20,000 men, marching to that
tune !"
fVcADEfU 1 W H Y NOT BECOME %
A SELLER OF THE
IRISH DEMOCRAT
374 Grays Inn Road, London, W.C.I .
2» &
&
I KT Km: K m e m b e r the day-. 1 " of old. Kre her fa i f l i l e s ; s o n s hoi r nyed her
W h e n Malaeh.v w o r e the col lar ol gold.
W h i c h la won I n u n her proud invader .
W h e n her ktn;;s w i t h s tandards ol green u n f u r l e d .
Led the Red I ' r a n c h K n i g h t s to danger.
T h e the Kmera ld Clem of the Western W o r l d
W a s set in the c r o w n of a s tranger .
On Lou^h Neagh's banks , us the f i sherman strays,
hi the c l ear cold e v e d e c l i n i n g . I le s e e s tile round t o w e r s of other
d a y s In the w a v e s beneath h i m shin ing : Thus shal l m e m o r y o f t e n m
d r e a m s subl ime . Catch a o lnnp-e of the d a y s that
are ovel Thus s igh ing , look t h r o u g h the
w a v e s ol t line Ko: tile long- laded g l o r i e s they
cover . T H O M A S M O O R E
include social freedom. As the a u t h o r pu ts it: "The Irish Revolutionary leaders were essentially bourgeois in outlook."
A short but concise account ol t he s t ra tegy of Lloyd George and Churchi l l (and Imperial ism) is given in dividing the Republicans. T h e issues surrounding, and what I particularly liked, what was in t h e Treaty , are given.
r P H E second section deals with the Con-st i tut ional Dail. We have t h e his-
tory of the const i tut ional position. How the Free Sta te changed to Eire and t h e n to t h e Republic of Ireland, The his tory of t he time is reflected in this "const i tu-t ional" mirror. And the Dail elections th rough the years. And they cer ta inly were bit ter!
In 1932 a Camann na ungael (Fine Gael) poster in the fo rm of a Circus bill r a n : " Devvy's Circus. Absolutely the greates t road show in Ireland today" and s ta r r ing "the World Famous Illusionist, oa th swallower and escapologist. See his renowned act escaping from the s t r a igh t j acke t of the Republic."
But Dev. won!
T h e author provides some in teres t ing mater ia l on the political parties. Hers again he analyses t h e composition of the par l iamentary part ies. I have not seen such factual evidence before. Read ing it demands yet more intensive research in t h a t field. This is t h e type of knowledge needed by all Republicans, Democrats and Socialists—who run these parties. This is really valuable work. In the "old" days the social division between F.F. a n d F .G. was much clearer. T h e pro-treaty par ty won the support of t he conservative prop-ert ied class in t h e country: t h e large fa rmers , the leaders in industry a n d com-merce and the well-established profes-sional men. T h e ant i - t reaty par ty relied chiefly on the small farmers, the shop-keepers and sections of the a r t i s ans and labourer classes. But when F.E. entered t h e Dail and introduced a policy of eco-nomic as well as political nat ional ism— t h u s building up new propertied class, the divisions were notably weakened.
But the author concludes:
"Fine Gael is still, in the main, t he par ty of wealth, property and position and tha t F i a n n a Fail draws its support f rom a wider circle."
T h e Labour Par ty relies, the au thor says, for its main s t rength on small f a rmer s and agricul tural labourers. In addit ion, analysis of election results show t h a t no part of t he country can be con-sidered a stronghold for any par ty . This is really amazing. T h e people a re not fixed in their voting habits . No th ing like the Labour s t rongholds in mining areas m Britain.
T h e conclusion seems to be t h a t the I r ish people are looking for leadership in their struggle for nat ionhood and pros-perity. The fact t h a t they have no t found su ' i i a lead forces them against fixed voting habits. I t is not difficult to draw the moral! Incidentally, it is of no te t ha t F.F. and F.G. both have reasonably demo-crat ic constitutions—all power in the National Conference unlike the Tories in Britain.
The rest of the book is devoted to the methods of work in the Dail and the work done since 1922 Here we have an ex-planation of the different types ol bills, procedure 011 passage, committees (for in-stance. most of the committee work is done by the entire Dail s i t t ing as a commit tee) , and comparisons with Westmins ter pro-cedure. The changes to the Const i tut ion, the Senate and Executive In the exten-sion of democracy: an account of legis-lation since 1922: they are all here
The struggle 011 Parti t ion -and Cos-telloe's conversion to Republicanism is taken from the 1920s up to dat,e. And though Ins final remark Government co-operation on the Foyle Fisheries: type-of-th ing (following Ba rnng ton el a l l will not
com a steady republican approach (it isn't 1. this book will do a lot of good for the Republican Cause more t h a n the b la ther of many of the "specialists" in tha t field. Well worth the thir ty bob!
C. O'HEHLIHY.
THE IRISH DEMOCRAT FOR IRISH WORKERS AND PATRIOTS WITH THE C O U R A G E TO THINK
REPUBLICAN WRITER DIES ' • y j I S S D O R O T H Y M A C A R D L E . "
whose d e a t h in a Drogheda n u r s i n g h o m e was a n n o u n c e d on C h r i s t m a s Eve, "was one of the most fea r less c h a m p i o n s of Irish independ-ence in ths genera ton . , '
Su says a resolut ion of t h e S tand ing Commit tee of the Connolly Association, lor whom she addressed several meetings, especially dur ing her period in London. S h e was also a f requen t visitor to the Tr in i ty College Fab ian Society of which Mr. Paul O 'Higgms was secretary.
T h e resolution expresses deep regret at he r passing and concludes: " T h e dea th of Miss Macat'dle, whose great book 'The I r i sh Republic" is still the best account of the Ir ish W a r of Independence, is an i r reparable loss both to Irish le t te rs and to the Republ ican cause."
A T E A C H E R ] M ISS MACARDLE was a m e m b e r of the
well-known Dundalk brewing family. S h e s ta r ted life as a teacher and later t u rned to writ ing, the "Ir ish T i m e s " re-
NOTES & NEWS g E V E N T E E N internees were let out
of the Curragh for Christmas They were released unconditionally. It has been reported that Phil C larke and Tom Mitchell , who were imprisoned in Crumlin Road Jail for republican activities and were serving long sen-tences for "treason-felony", have been conditionally released. Reports that they intend to give up politics should be viewed wi th caution unti l further
information is available. * * *
There are now four branches of the Con-nolly Association funct ioning in London. La te s t is t h j Nortii-West London branch, whose secretary, Tom Redmond, made a notable speech on the subject of youth a t t h e "Ir ish Democra t " Conlerence. Chair-m a n is Gerry Burke, who wri tes in the " I r i sh Democra t " each month . Flit you can ' t guess w h a t it is he writes, r a n you?
* * * Mr. Gerard Curran, Connolly Associa-
tion C.A. member and assistant editor of the "Ir ish Democrat," who has been in hospital since last July when he collapsed from over-work, is now completely re-covered and has returned to his Dublin home for a brief holiday.
* * ?
T h e "Ir ish Democra t " Is still in a des-pera te spot for cash. A number ol readers have cont r ibuted , and some have re-sponded to our appeal to t ake collecting cards. Hut the Chr i s tmas period has been badly aga ins t us, so we mus t really pick up in the New Year. So don't, fo rge t -send t h a t million-dollar bill into 374 Grays Inn Road as soon as you read this . We'll be able to change it, even if you can ' t !
PLAN TO SAVE IRELAND from page one
T i e n the migh ty forces of nat ional re-genera t ion W I T H I N Ireland can come into plav. Produc t ion can be s tepped up. A balanced economy covering t h e thir ty-two count ies c a n be built up. The re will be so much work tha t I r i shmen will be going home f rom all over t h e world.
Those wishing to at tend t h e conference, which will be held under t h e auspices of t h e "Ir ish Democrat ." shou ld apply to t h e Editor a t 374 Grays Inn Road, where a limited n u m b e r of visitors' t ickets will be available
Printed by Ripley Printers Ltd. (T.U.). Nottingham Road, Ripley, Derbys., and published by the Editor at 374 Grays Inl Road, London, W.C.I.
calls. In this field, she was h i s to r i an , novelist, dramatis t a n d critic. She was the d a u g h t e r of Sir T h o m a s Macardle, K.B.E., D.l... and of Lady Minn ie Lucy Macard le .
Al te r she had g r a d u a t e d from U C D . Miss Macardle took up a teaching a p p o m t -ment in Alexandra College. Dublin. S h e took an interest in republ ican affairs , a n d she was. while a t eacher at A lexandra College, taken into custody for her activi-ties. Hei' position in t h e College was kept open for her until s h e was able to r e s u m e work.
Dur ing tile independence movement , s h e worked as a p ropagand i s t and publicis t , and she continued th is work for t h e Re-publ ican side dur ing the Civil War .
Miss Macardle was also well known as a broadcaster . S h e was a vice-president of t he Ir ish Association of Civil Liber t ies , a n d for some years she was president . For a n u m b e r of years s h e was the d r a m a cri t ic of the "Irish Press ."
Keenly interested in youth movements , she was present two years ago a t t h e opening of the hoste l at Glentnalure for An Oige in the house t h a t was once owned by h e r lriend. the l a te Dr. Kathleen Lynn, who tounded St. U l t an ' s Hospital. Dubl in .
S h e was the a u t h o r or "The Traged ie s iii Kerry." and she also wrote "The Child-ren el Europe." One ol her most popu la r books was "The Uninvi ted." which was also made into a film and enjoyed a wide succtv.s. Other novels which she wrote were: "Fantas t ic Summer , " "Uneasy Free- ' hold" and "The Seed was Kind." She a!s > wro'.e the play. " D a r k Waters."
T E N - Y E A R W O R K
IT took her ten years to complete her
m a j o r work. " T h e I r i sh Republic." In t ins she set out to put down author i ta t ive ly t h e events of those impor tant year.- ir. I r i sh history, and t h e book has bec j ine a s t a n d a r d work.
Miss Macardle was a fluent French speaker. One of her b ro thers . Capta in Richard Ross Macardle, M.C.. f o u g h t in France dur ing the 1914-1918 war and an-other brother . Mr. John Ross Macardle . is a director ol Macardle, Moore a n d Co. Ltd. of Dundalk.
T A O I S E A C H ' S T R I B U T E
' P H E Taoiseach, Mr. de Valera. on learn-ing of the death of Miss Macardle.
said: Dorothy Macardle was one of the noble, val iant women of our time, an active champion of every cause t h a t seemed to her to be good.
"Some for ty years ago, espousing the cause ol t he Republic, she broke with very many of he r friends, but she remained constant and loyal to t h e end. and throughout t h e years served t h e cause of Irish independence devotedly and un-selfishly.
"In ob ta in ing the facts a n d writ ing 'The Irish Republic ' she spent some ten of the best years ol her life, her purpose being to do her u tmost to see t h a t t r u t h would t r iumph.
"I have never me; anyone more intel-lectually honest . She h a d a horror of hypocrisy or pretence in any form. She worked incessantly. Ol her, indeed, could be trulv said, she was 'a lover of labour and t ru th . ' Suaimlmeas s iorai da h a n a m tiilr- "
D U B L I N MEN'S A S S O C I A T I O N I N B I R I V i . N G H A M
A Dublin men's association is to jv tormed in Birmingham to cater : ,r men lrom Dublin county and city. 1: will be formed in conjunction with ;h.' All-Ireland Counties' Association. The secretarv is Mr. J M. Doran. 257 Stonev Lane'. Yardley. Birmingham 25.
men or m uicst (Air: "Eoghan Coir")
~ I \ T H I L E you honour in song a n d in story the names of t h e pa t r io t men,
Whose valour has covered wi th glory full manv a mounta in and glen. Forget not t h e boys of the h e a t h e r , who marsha l led their braves t and
best. When Eire was broken in Wex to rd and looked for revenge to t h e West.
CHORUS: I give you t h e gal lant old West . boys.
Where ra l l ied our bravest and l>est When I re land lay broken and bleeding;
Hur rah for t he men ol the West!
The hilltops with glorv were glowing, 'twas tiie eve of a br ight ha rves t dav.
When the ships we'd been wearily waiting sailed into Kilktfa »*vad bav,
And over the lulls went t h e slogan, to awaken in every breast The fire t ha t lias never been quenched, boys, among the true h e a r t s of
the West. Chorus .
Killala was ours ere the midn igh t , and high over Ballma town Our banners in t r iumph were waving before the next sun h a d gon»
down. We ga thered to speed the good work, boys. t he true men a n e a r and
a f a r , And lustorv can tell how we routed the redcoats through old Cas t l eba r
Chorus .
And pledge me "The stout sons of France," boys, bold Humber t and all his b rave men.
Whose t ramp, like the t r u m p e t of battle, b rought hone to the drooping again.
Since Eire has caught to her bosom on main- a mountain and lull The gal lants who iell so they ' r e here, boys, to cheer u tu victory still.
Chorus .
Though all t he bright d r e a m i n g s we cherished went down in disas ter and woe.
The spirit of old is still with us tha t never would l>end to t h e foe; And C o n n a u g h t is ready whenever the loud rolling tuck ol t he d r u m Rings out to awaken the echoes and tell us the morning has come.
CHORUS So here's t.o t h e gallant, old West. Ixivs,
Who ral l ied her bravest and best When I re land was broken and bleeding;
Hurrah , bovs! Hurrah for the West1
WILLIAM ROONEY.
Go Raibh Raith Agaibh
17 EEP up the good work! This is what " many a reader says to our sellers as they take the "Democrat" round. May we ask you, reader, to do the same and swell the flow of donations to our fund t i l l it be-comes a flood. S tar t the New Year well w i th a donation N O W , and keep it up wi th a donation every month.
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THIS WAS SENT TO TOPPING
T H E fol lowing letter has been ad-" dressed to Mr . Topping, Home
Secretary in the Stormont Govern-ment, and copies were sent to Mr . Leslie Lever, M.P. and the Connolly Association.
The let ter is f r o m the St. L u k e s Ward Labour P a r t y in the Ci ty of Manchester .
RE M A L L O N AND T A L B O T
Sir,—I am instructed by my W a r d Party to acquaint you wi th their views on the above case, and its general oontext.
We have f rom t ime to time been ap-palled at the roports which have come through on the alleged activities of the R.U.C. and what are commonly known as the "B" Specials.
It is alleged that brutality in the form of beatings and questionable methods of extracting confessions are not uncommon; it is further alleged that the circumstances of deaths (by shooting) of certain indi-viduals are suspect.
We therefore followed with interest the trials of the prisoners Mallon and Talbot , and we were shocked not merely at the severity of the sentences—but at what we feci can only be described as punit ive savagery.
The above views are not merely confined to our mombers but are becoming more widespread as people in this country hear the details of these matters.
I am asked therefore, to urge you to set up an impart ia l inquiry into the conduct Df the R.U.C. and the "B" Specials. I sin-cerely trust that such an Inquiry can be arranged because the present situation can only aggravate further the grave doubts that are felt.
Yours sincerely,
H. R O W L E Y . (Secretary)